First the NBA, now the NFL

http://espn.go.com/nfl/trainingcamp12/story/_/id/8239455/woman-set-officiate-nfl-game-first-time

This should be interesting.

Not only the reaction on this thread, but the reaction overall.

 

A woman as a scab is a very, very small step.

 

This times 1,000.

 

And she's a six-time national judo champion, too? Good. Now the NFL finally will have an official who can actually keep up physically with 22 young guys running up the down the field.

 

Yes, what a landmark day... She'll referee an NFL game and then when the ref lockout finally ends, she'll likely never see a NFL field ever again...

 

Pam Postema wonders what the fuss is all about.

 

A little surprised it wasn't Sarah Thomas. She was the first female official to work a bowl game, back in 2009, has done Division I football for six years, worked the 2010 UFL championship game and the Senior Bowl this past January.
Of course, she's also in the good graces of the "real" refs and was being groomed as an eventual NFL offical by traditional means. So if an offer came to cross the picket line it's understandable if she politely told the league to get bent.

 

From Sam Farmer in the LA Times:

 

He sure will.